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Two directions in the historiography of humour can be diagnosed: on the one hand humour is understood as a form of resistance, on the other hand it is taken as a means of political agitation. This dichotomy has been applied especially to describe humour in National Socialism and in other totalitarian regimes. This article argues that both forms were marginal in National Socialism. The prevalence of the “whispered jokes”, allegedly the form of resistance, has been exaggerated. The satire, allegedly the official and dominant form of humour, was not well-received by the National Socialistic public. This article will reconstruct the rise of a third form, the “German humour”, and discuss the reasons for its success by looking at why satire failed.

Fascist movements of the 1920s and 1930s perceived the new techniques of propaganda as an opportunity. Their ascent to power only seemed to verify the far‐reaching effects that were attributed to media. Once in power, the Fascist, the National Socialist, the Francoist, and the Hungarian media policy followed the idea that the total control of the media would secure the total control over the people. But the implementation differed not only in scope and timeline, it became apparent that a total control of media was not possible or even proved to be counter effective.